In the 7th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) held virtually last May 20, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), government ministers, civil society organizations (CSOs), and other stakeholders discussed the status of the Agenda 2030 in addressing poverty and inequality, further worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are left behind. Panelists reported the obvious – we have a long way to go in achieving the goals set

More than 80% of the world’s poorest will live in fragile contexts by 2030, making the fragility agenda central to the Leave No One Behind and Agenda 2030 discussions. In addition, climate change is a major risk in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, with forecasts for climate-induced migration varying from 25 million – 1 billion by 2050. Add to these the countless conflicts and wars around the world, and now a global pandemic and recession.

Rising to prominence in the wake of World War 2, international finance institutions (IFIs) were formed by multiple countries, purportedly for economic cooperation for postwar reconstruction as well as regulating postwar debt payments between countries. But they have evolved into institutional mechanisms to establish global capitalist order and impose policies and programs that ultimately benefit developed countries that dominate these IFIs. Rather than fostering mutual cooperation in an enabling environment of respect for each other’s

Statement of the RoA International Coordinating Committee | 23 April 2020 (Download Statement with Spanish version) The recently published preliminary ODA data of 2019 show that aid spending by DAC members totaled USD 152.8 billion representing a slight real term increase compared to 2018. In relative terms however, ODA as a percentage of DAC members’ combined GNI dropped to 0,3%. The figures also show a 5.7% increase in ODA given as loans instead of grants,

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB) have touted themselves as the much-needed alternatives to the Western-dominated traditional International Finance Institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The two new banks entered the development financing landscape to much fanfare with their mandate of catering to the development needs of the South, particularly in building sustainable infrastructure. Five years into their operation, how do they

No country is safe amidst the coronavirus global crisis. From those with wealthy economies to those with scarce resources, the effects of the pandemic are widely felt – aggressive lockdowns and curfew, military deployment, unemployment and layoffs, debts, hunger, to name a few. However, some states are dealing with the effects under harsher circumstances than others. The impacts of the pandemic are worst for conflict-affected, fragile states. The Reality of Aid – Asia Pacific